Guam Hazard Mitigation Plan - Western States Seismic Policy Council

SECTIONFIVERisk Assessmenthigh surf for several days, resulting in large areas of coastal erosion along beaches on the easternside of the island. The high surf and storm surge caused by Typhoon Halong led to erosion alongthe island’s southeast shorelines. Super Typhoon Pongsona caused coastal erosion on the westernside of the island, which washed out a few stretches of road and blocked several stretches of roadwith rubble and sand.Probability of Future EventsBecause various factors contribute to coastal erosion events and given the general lack of dataregarding erosion rates, the return rate for coastal erosion is unknown. However, high surf andstorm surge caused by tropical storms and typhoons can result in coastal erosion. On average,three tropical storms and one typhoon pass within 180 nautical miles of Guam each year.5.3.2 DiseaseNatureA disease is a pathological (unhealthy or ill) condition of a living organism or part of theorganism that is characterized by an identifiable group of symptoms or signs. Disease can affectany living organism, including people, animals, and plants. Disease affects people, animals, andplants both directly (through infection) and indirectly (through secondary effects). Some diseasescan directly affect both people and animals. For this risk assessment, the major concern withrespect to disease is an epidemic, a disease that affects numerous people, animals, or plants atone time.Epidemics are generally identified by the infectious diseases involved. Infectious diseases arecaused by the entry and growth of microorganisms within another living organism. Most, but notall, infectious diseases are contagious, that is, communicable to an organism through (1) direct orindirect contact with another organism infected with the disease, (2) something the organism hastouched that contains the disease, or (3) another medium containing the disease (e.g., water orair).Infectious diseases are the leading cause of death in humans worldwide and the third leadingcause of death in humans in the U.S. A report from the Institute of Medicine titled MicrobialThreats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response notes that the impact of infectiousdiseases on the U.S. has grown in the last 10 years and that the public health and medicalcommunities remain inadequately prepared.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has established a list of over 50nationally notifiable diseases. A notifiable disease is one that, when diagnosed, health providersare required to report to state or local public health officials. Notifiable diseases are those ofpublic interest by reason of their contagiousness, severity, or frequency. The long list includessuch diseases as the following: AIDS; anthrax; botulism; cholera; diphtheria; encephalitis;gonorrhea; hantavirus pulmonary syndrome; hepatitis (A, B, C); HIV (pediatric); Legionellosis;Lyme disease; malaria; measles; mumps; plague; polio (paralytic); rabies (animal and human);Rocky Mountain spotted fever; rubella (also congenital); salmonellosis; SARS; streptococcaldisease (Group A); streptococcal toxic-shock syndrome; Streptococcus pneumoniae (drugresistant); syphilis (also congenital); tetanus; toxic-shock syndrome; trichinosis, tuberculosis,typhoid fever; and yellow fever.5-7